Swiss stocks - Factors to watch on April 2

ZURICH/BERLIN, April 2 (Reuters) - The Swiss blue-chip SMI was seen opening 0.1 percent lower at 9,531 points on Tuesday, according to premarket indications by bank Julius Baer .

Here are some of the main factors that may affect Swiss stocks:

NOVARTIS

Novartis must face a U.S. government lawsuit accusing it of paying millions of dollars in kickbacks to doctors so they would prescribe its drugs, after a federal judge ruled in a decision that the government had offered evidence of a "company-wide kickback scheme."

Additionally, the company's Avexis unit expands its gene therapy manufacturing capacity with the purchase of a biologics therapy manufacturing campus in Colorado, it said.